A rotor ship, or Flettner ship, is a ship designed to use the Magnus-effect for propulsion. To take advantage of this effect, it uses cylindrical rotors which are powered by an drive motor. The Magnus-effect is a force acting on a spinning body in a moving airstream, which acts perpendicularly to the direction of the airstream. This force can be put to good use for the propulsion of the vessel, thereby saving fuel.
A disadvantage of such Flettner rotors is that they need to be large, and therefore heavy and bulky, in order to provide sufficient propulsive force to the vessel. As a consequence, the Flettner rotor also utilizes large quantities of material for their construction. A further disadvantage of Flettner rotors is that their performance is relatively low at low wind speeds and with wind blowing from an undesirable wind direction.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the aforementioned disadvantages.